Former Laureates

Sadik Al-Azm

Sadik Al-Azm

2004

‘Religion and Modernity’ was the theme of the 2004 Erasmus Prize. The choice of three laureates reflects the fact that issues of religion and modernity can be approached in many different ways. The three Islamic thinkers provide a sample of the many routes that can be taken.

Sadik Al-Azm was born in Damascus in 1934. After studying at Yale, he taught philosophy at the American University in Beirut. He lost his post there but since has been a visiting professor at various American and European universities. His name became known through his book Self-Criticism After the Defeat (1968), in which he analyzes disillusionment of Arabs following the Six-Day War. The traditions of humanism and the Enlightenment are among his major sources of inspiration. He does not shrink from intellectual and political debate about the content and meaning of Islam and the relationship between Arab and Christian cultures. His defence of Salman Rushdie was not appreciated in many circles. In his work he often compares expressions of Islamic and Christian fundamentalism. He reaches the conclusion that modernity in the end will have the same result in both cases: religion will be driven out of the public domain and will become a personal matter.

Laudatio

According to the constitution of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation, the Erasmus Prize is awarded to individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to the field of humanities, the social sciences or the arts. The Patron of our organization - His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands - has endorsed the decision of the Board to award this year's Prize to the professors Sadik al-Azm from Syria, Fatema Mernissi from Morocco, and Abdulkarim Soroush from Iran. They share the Prize for their contributions to the societal and intellectual debate on the topic of Religion and Modernity, and it is my pleasure to address the three laureates here, speaking on behalf of our Patron, Prince Bernhard.

Religion and Modernity is the chosen subject area for the Erasmus Prize of 2004. In this debate, the question is raised as to what is the position of religion with regard to modernization processes in society. Our laureates of this year have each contributed to this discussion in a unique way; their views have been controversial and influential, also beyond the borders of their countries of origin.

Let me first make some general observations on the topic of Religion and Modernity, before I turn to the laureates individually.

Religion and Modernity - some general observations

There is a widespread recognition that religions around the world are at this very moment, tragically, all too often a source of murderous violence toward people of other religious backgrounds. Religious authority is being used to validate violent - often ethnic - outbursts and to instigate internecine conflicts in many countries. In recent decades, one can point to religious justifications evoked to pursue genocidal civil war in Sudan, ethnic cleansing in Serbia and Bosnia, religion-based communal warfare in India, Pakistan, and Northern-Ireland, and continuous conflict between Muslims and Jews in Israel and the Middle East.

Extremists of Christian, Jewish or Muslim backgrounds can wreck havoc on the world at large, all with their own God on their side. Whether the stake is oil, territory, power or water: legitimacy for one's behaviour is often sought in religious faith as the ultimate source of truth and the expression of one's perceived cultural identity.

But let us not make the mistake to take only the radical and extremist wings of the different religious traditions as our frame of reference. History demonstrates that for many devout believers religion is also a source of inspiration and consolation, a source of justice, social responsibility and love. How do we achieve that virtues such as tolerance and understanding become the stronger forces in our making of a more peaceful world? How can we achieve that religion is used more as a vehicle for peaceful social transformation and modernization than as an ideology that divides mankind?

To illustrate the relevance and timeliness of our topic, it is tempting here to insert a quote from an unexpected source, Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan, published in June this year (Musharraf, 2004):

'I say to my Muslim brethren: the time for a renaissance has come. The way forward goes via the Enlightenment. We must concentrate on the development of human potential by alleviating poverty and by education, health care and social justice. If that is our course, it cannot be realized by confrontation. It is by way of a moderate, reconciling approach that we must fight the wide-spread notion that Islam is a militant religion, incompatible with modernization, democracy and secularism.'

This view will no doubt be shared by many. But whether the way forward will only go via the Enlightenment remains to be seen.

In Western Europe, the public debate about modernity leads to self-reflection, and the Western Enlightenment, generally considered the cradle of modernity, deserves critical re-examination. We are only beginning to realize that modernization processes may not always follow the course of models developed in the West.

This then is the sort of debate our Foundation wishes to stimulate. I continue with some remarks on Islam and the connection with our theme Religion and Modernity.

Religion and Modernity - Islam

Islam is part of Europe and its historical heritage, even though it has had its main distribution in other parts of the world. There are many Europeans today, for instance Turks and Bosnians, who for good reasons would describe their identity as both European and Muslim. A new form of European Islam is growing. Considering global developments in the political and social sphere, the debates on Islam and modernity should be of major concern to us. Even Erasmus would have approved of it.

Our laureates today are eminent, independent thinkers: they have critical and well-argued points of view on political and cultural developments in the Middle East as well as in the Western world, they are willing to meet their opponents in public debate, and have shown great courage in upholding the values of freedom of thought and speech. They are non-dogmatic thinkers who have aired their views in public, in spite of risking thereby to loose their jobs or their safety. By awarding them this year's Erasmus Prize, we hope to achieve that their voice will be heard in even wider circles.

I wish to emphasize that this summary praise of their shared virtues does not imply that all three laureates are soldiers in the same battle. They stand in different traditions and hold different opinions. They write on different topics and for different audiences. What they share is: charisma, courage and optimism - and, as of today, the Erasmus Prize.

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Having said that, I will now turn to the laureates in person. I propose to do this in alphabetical order, beginning with professor Sadik al-Azm.

Sadik Jalal Al-Azm

The 'Voltaire of the Arab world', the 'heretic of Damascus' - these are a few of the labels which are being used to characterise the Syrian philosopher, cultural historian and human rights activist Sadik Jalal Al-Azm. These names are suggestive of which mental attitude is typical for this Arab intellectual. For some decennia, Sadik Al-Azm, retired Professor of Modern European Philosophy at the University of Damascus, counts as one of the most prominent intellectuals in the Arab world. From the beginning of his academic career this secular thinker has not shied away from the intellectual and political debate on issues such as the role of the Arab world, contents and meaning of Islam, and the relationship between Arab and Christian culture. Al-Azm combines a broad academic scholarship with the capacity to take up clear positions in the public debate. Ideas and values from western humanistic and enlightened traditions form an important source of inspiration for him. His doctoral dissertation was devoted to one of the most important characters of the Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant.

One of Al-Azm's first important contributions to the debate on religious thinking was his book 'Self-criticism after the Defeat' in which he made an incisive analysis of the factors which had led to the Arab defeat in the 1967 War with Israel, factors such as uncritically holding on to traditions and religious transmissions, a lack of understanding for the position of the individual, and a leaning towards fatalism. According to some, his analysis at that time has not lost its value at present. His publications are testimony that the author dares to take up critical positions, without caring too much about political and intellectual taboos. This also became apparent later in the Rushdie affair, in which he defended the author of The Satanic Verses.

Interestingly, Al-Azm compares Islamic fundamentalism with expressions of fundamentalism in Christianity. He regards extremist acts of violence as the last death spasms of a mentality that realises its final hour has come, rather than as impulses for a new movement or a new era. According to Al-Azm, modernity will have the same effects on Islam as it has had on Christianity in Europe: That is, religion will be driven out of the public domain to end up as a private affair. The comparative approach, by which he compares European cultural history with that of the Arab world, with voltairian irony, with an incisive mind, and seemingly effortless, all this makes him a very interesting thinker. We hope that more of his work will become available in Western languages.

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I now turn to Professor Fatema Mernissi.

Fatema Mernissi

In the debate about modernisation in Islamic societies, the Moroccan author and sociologist Fatema Mernissi occupies a prominent position. She has made a special effort to study the living conditions of Muslim women and expose their vision of the world. This she considers important both for themselves and for the outside world, which she deems to be one-sidedly permeated by the male discourse.

By publication of her interviews and studies of Moroccan women in various societal positions - studies which have appeared in many languages and countries - she has made the voice heard of what she considers the subjected and discriminated half of the population. By writing in an accessible, evocative style, Fatema Mernissi has reached a very broad audience and has become a role model for younger generations. She argues that women should fulfil their full role in the public sphere. Thanks to her thorough familiarity with Western cultures she is also able to make comparisons with Western views on womanhood and question the pretended Western feeling of superiority. Mernissi emphasises that in the West, too, women are manipulated and exploited, because the female body is often used as a commercialised sex object.

Already in her first books she emphatically pleaded for emancipation of women. Her books, most of which first appeared in English or French, and afterwards in many other translations, have been distributed very widely, especially also in Islamic countries. The special merit of Mernissi is that she has systematically investigated forms of repression of Muslim women, studying them from inside the institute of the harem, and subjected the results to discussion. Her ethnographic descriptions are extraordinary and of priceless value, as the harem she describes does no longer exist in present-day Morocco. In the mid 90s Mernissi broadened the focus of her work to the influence of satellite and internet on society. Through a growing international network entitled 'Caravane civique' she is empowering a broad group of artists, activists, intellectuals, as well as illiterate people from remote rural areas in Morocco, with the goal to strengthen civil society. As professor of sociology in Rabat, influential teacher and author, she has greatly helped to raise consciousness of the sort of tensions that come with modernisation. She has become a role model for the modern Moroccan woman, who is open to the values of emancipation, and stands firm in asserting her identity.

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I now turn to our third laureate professor Abdulkarim Soroush.

Abdulkarim Soroush

One of the best-known reformers in Iran is the renowned religious intellectual, Abdulkarim Soroush, who in his own country is both popular and controversial. He tries to combine insights from Western philosophy and social science with a tolerant perception of the Islamic creed. Sometimes he is named 'the Luther of Islam'. 'Erasmus of Islam' would seem to be a more appropriate title, given Erasmus' decision not to break with the church as Luther did. When one envisages the conditions in Iran after the 1979 revolution, one cannot but be impressed by Soroush' well-considered and courageous ideas to reconcile Islam with modern ideas on human rights and democracy.

A broad scholar in many fields, such as pharmacology, history and philosophy of science, he developed a thorough knowledge in the field of Koran interpretation and Persian poetry. His major works attempt to give a new interpretation of the shari'a in the light of new insights in the field of jurisprudence, hermeneutics and sociology of knowledge. We hope that more of his work will become available in Western languages.

Characteristic for Soroush' thinking is a vision in which he attempts to reconcile the three cultures of Iran: The national tradition, which is going back to times before the introduction of Islam in the eighth century, the Islamic creed, and the Western body of thought. All three are part of the heritage of present-day Iran, according to Soroush, who takes issue with the idea of a pure culture, free of foreign influences. When one thinks on these lines, one has to reject Islam to begin with, because it came from outside Iran. In his view, nothing is entitled to a self-evident devotion just because it has come into existence on one's own soil, and none of the three cultures which form the richness of Iran must be allowed to dominate: Neither the nationalists, who want to destroy all Arab influences, nor those who blindly wish to imitate the West, nor the unskilled followers of Islam.

In their confrontation with Western civilisation, many Muslims hold on to Islam as an identity that excludes others, according to Soroush. Soroush tries to forge a link between various notions from the social sciences, which in post-revolutionary Iran were condemned as Western corruption, and his thinking about Islam.

All of this sounds similar to the programmes of reformist thinkers within other religions, where a historical interpretation of transmitted traditions with hermeneutic means forms the starting point of a modernisation process. Within the Islamic tradition Soroush goes as far as possible in reconciling religion with democracy: 'The heart of a religious society is a freely chosen belief; it is not in force and adaptation.'

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May I now ask that all three laureates please come forward together, so I can adorn you with the ornaments belonging to the Erasmus Prize.

Acceptance speech

It is indeed a great honor and a profound source of satisfaction for me to stand up here to express my gratitude and appreciation for the bestowal of this high distinction on my person. The honor becomes even greater, first, for having come from such a high European cultural institution of the Netherlands that derives its inspiration and name from the spirit, thought and achievements of the most celebrated Dutch Renaissance humanist, scholar, satirist, critic and cosmopolitan, Desiderius Erasmus; and second, for being shared with such eminent colleagues, influential public intellectuals and brave critics as Fatima Mernissi and Abdulkarim Soroush.
Invoking the name and example of Erasmus is particularly significant and fitting in this context. For, I do think of my own work as a part of and an extension and addition to that great tradition of liberal reform, latitudinarian religious interpretation, critical self-interrogation and self-reflection in Arab life, culture and thought which experts and historians, both East and West, call an awakening, a renaissance, a religious reformation, the liberal experiment, the liberal age of Arab thought and that they date back to the beginning of the 19th century. This tradition compressed in itself all at once, a Muslim theologico-legal reformation, a literary-intellectual renaissance, a rational scientific enlightenment of sorts and a politico-ideological aggiornamento as well.
And just as the Enlightenment - that culmination of the critical spirit launched and nourished by Erasmus himself - has had to sustain harsh assaults on its tenets, methods and values in Europe itself, similarly the great tradition of the Arab awakening has had, for some time now, to defend itself against even harsher attacks, denigrations and
dismissals coming from the resurgent forces of religious absolutism, dogmatism, obscurantism, scripturalism and literalism.
I certainly regard my own work as part of and a contribution to that defense. For it is, the evolving dynamics of this tradition that succeeded in putting so forcefully on the agenda of modern and contemporary Arab history, culture, thought and action such vital issues as modernization, reform, independence, progress, liberation, freedom, citizenship, democracy, toleration, criticism and human rights.
I see the recognition extended to my work and to my person by the Erasmus Prize as additional support of and a reinforcement of this defense. As for the money attendant to this recognition, I hope to succeed in using it to give myself a year off to finish a lot of work in the same domain now lying around unfinished, and above all to try to transcend what has been accomplished so far.
Finally, I would like to end by reaffirming my gratitude and pride for having received this prestigious European and Dutch prize.

Biography

Sadik J. Al-Azm (retired Professor of Modern European
Philosophy at the University of Damascus) was born in Damascus, in 1934, member of a well-known Sunnite family.

In 1963, after studies at Yale University he lectured philosophy at the American University of Beirut. Not considering himself a Marxist in particular, he rather sees himself as a materialistic thinker who in a practical way deals with the political and social circumstances in which he finds himself.

Al-Azm became well known with his book Self-criticism after the Defeat (1968), in which he gives an analysis of the Arab disillusionment after the Six Days War. Apart from publications in Arabic some of his books appeared in English translation. Besides, his books were published in German, Dutch, English, Norwegian and Italian (Unbehagen in der Moderne. Aufklärung im Islam,1993; Kritiek op godsdienst en wetenschap. Vijf essays over islamitische cultuur, 1996; L'Illuminismo islamico. Il disagio della civiltà, 2002).

During his career he taught, not only in Damascus and Beirut, but also at Harvard, Princeton and the University of Hamburg (visiting professor in 1998). In 1990/91 he was fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. He stayed as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. during 1992-93. He lectured in Antwerp and in Amsterdam (2003). In May 2004 he received the Dr.-Leopold-Lucas-Preis of the Evangelical-Theological Faculty of the University of Tübingen.